Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Author's note: so the fallout has happened. And it was not pretty, though it could've been worse. This part of season 3, where the gang learns about Angelus' return is one of the times where Buffy's decision-making comes into question because it's one could affect the whole group wherein if it had been Angelus and he was able to be deceived, they would've all died. Now after some deliberation from a good friend of mine, I can see that Xander likely would be jealous of Angel, but I do believe there are other circumstances to where Xander did get past his jealousy and can provide more reasonable judgement as to why he would be one to dissent against Buffy's questionable decisions first. And to Wonderbee31, all I'll say is to keep reading. On that note, everyone enjoy the next chapter.


Two weeks later...

Unknown Desert

Faith and Buffy looked around at the empty landscape, with dirt and sand for miles in all directions. The two slayers looked back to one another in slight trepidation, when they heard a voice call out to them, "I hope you two don't start fighting."

"Ambriel? What are you doing here?" Faith asked as the angel appeared to them.

"I was asked to deliver a message to you. There's a powerful demon that's looking to add further damage to your group," she responded.

"Why are you coming to us?" Buffy spoke up. "We aren't your chosen ones. Why not go to Jonathan or...Xander."

"You may not have been chosen. But there is still something you can do if you have the heart to do so," Ambriel said with a stern look towards Buffy.

Faith looked between the angel and her sister slayer before she jumped back in, "So what about this demon?"

"It's been imprisoned within what you call the hellmouth. It's decided to become active recently but we're not sure what they're doing," Ambriel explained.

"But it can't escape while the hellmouth is closed, right?" Buffy threw in.

"Yes, it can't escape. However, it can still interact with the people in this world. If it was really in Hell, it wouldn't be able to interact with anything."

Faith and Buffy's eyes widened at hearing the information when Faith spoke up, "What do you if it were in Hell? It's called the hellmouth!"

"It was called that by the settlers because they felt the power emanating from it. What Sunnydale is built upon is actually the entrance to a Deeper Well. There's another well where some of the Old Ones sleep because they've been imprisoned since the end of the Primordium Age. Hell, real Hell, is inescapable except on my boss' orders."

Faith lifted a finger ready to protest until she stopped and realized that she would be arguing with an angel. She also knew it was pointless as the slayer essence did not entice her to attack but it remained docile in her presence.

"Why are you telling us this now? How come you never said anything before?" Buffy asked feeling confusion.

"Because until there became two slayers we never had much to worry about. If anything, my brothers and sisters always feared that the Watchers Council would go too far with their treatment of the slayer."

"The council is full of uptight jerks sure, but what could we have to worry about with them?" Buffy asked.

"The cruciamentum. It's a test given to slayers when they reach adulthood by 18," Ambriel said with a darkening tone at the thought of what the word brought.

"And what does this test mean?" Faith jumped in. Ambriel looked at the both of them with a hard look, which the girls could see was not directed towards them. "This test requires that your watchers dull your abilities as a slayer, to where you're a regular human. Then you're forced to fight a starving vampire. If you live and kill it, you're deemed a worthy slayer. If you die, then the next slayer receives the power."

The two girls faces expressed their shock and their were still for a moment before Faith reacted, "So these assholes have been playing with lives all this time!"

Ambriel raised an eyebrow, knowing this would be the reaction. Buffy found her voice as she followed up, "What she means is that it's crazy that no one has ever stopped this."

"It's because the council's old guard has a tight grip on the regiment they use in training slayers. If there is one who is not fully under their control, they become fearful. With two of you not under their control by way of your minds, it means you're able to move away from their way of thinking."

"So how do we handle this?" Ambriel looked to Faith as the brunette girl asked. "Be wary of crystals."

"That's it? So now what?" Buffy asked. Ambriel smiled before she raised a hand and a white light engulfed them all. The two slayers jerked awake in their respective beds as they thought on the angel's words.


The next day...

Harris Residence

Xander sat in his room feeling as miserable as possible. Neither of the girls were talking to him, Cordelia avoided him and He wasn't sure that he could go to anyone else. Giles, he knew, would not be of much help because of the older man's inclination to support Buffy. Willow had followed Buffy to a point of blindly following her. He couldn't go to Diana or Faith because he did not want them dragged into the group's turmoil. For the first time, he truly felt alone.

"You look like you could use some company bro," came a familiar voice. Xander turned to find his long dead friend, Jesse McNally.

"W-what are you doing here? You shouldn't be here," Xander said as he stood up and backed away as he got a bad feeling.

Jesse looked at Xander with a smile. "Come on man! Is that any way to say hello to your friend? I'm dead for almost three years. Can't you be happy to see me?"

"I've seen enough of the dead coming back. Hasn't really worked out to well," he said.

"So you regret bringing Buffy back?" Jesse asked. Xander turned to his friend with anger and lunged at him when he realized that he had gone through his friend.

"What the hell happened to you?"

Jesse smiled again as he answered, "I'm only here to talk. I saw how everything's been going. I feel sorry for you man."

"Don't bother," Xander seethed.

"Dude, come on. Willow's abandoned you. Buffy's trying to keep you second string, and the watcher doesn't respect you. And let's not forget you screwing up with Cordelia," Jester finished.

"Is there a point to all of this?" Xander asked feeling his anger at himself intensify.

"You're fucking up everything good you've got going for you! You had friends, love, and you could've kept it! All you had to do is just keep playing your role and everything would've been fine. But instead, you had to make it about you."

"This has never been about me!" Xander shouted back.

"Oh really? So you having Angelus killed when Willow was trying to give him his soul was not about what you wanted?"

"I wanted everyone to live! Willow had no experience in magic! We were close to the world ending!" Xander shouted.

"And the curse worked! Would you be so brave if you had that power to back you up! Face it man! You're got lucky that you were given that power! You don't deserve it!" Jesse said with a sneer.

Xander shook his head and stormed out of his room and the house. He quickly made his way over to one of Sunnydale's cemeteries. He felt the need to hit something to work out his anger. All he found was one rising fledgling. He quickly beat it to submission before he grabbed the vampire by the throat and burned it to ash. He was ready to move on when he heard another familiar voice.

"I'm impressed. You've really stepped up since the last time I saw you," came a voice with a thick accent. Xander turned towards one of the towering tombstones to see Kendra Young step around it with a somewhat sultry smile.

"What the hell is going on?" Xander said as he backed away, getting that same vibe.

"When we first met, I thought that you were some fool who went weak at the knees in front of beautiful girl. But now, you're strong, powerful, but it came to you because of what you did to Buffy. You made her suffer."

"No. I couldn't hurt Buffy. I'd never hurt Buffy!" he yelled.

"And yet she was willing to hurt you when she learned that you lied to her. You were a little puppy dog on a short leash! You traded your parents' neglect and abuse for another! You know what we call that? A waste of life," Kendra said as she glared hard at Xander.

The young man ran away, figuring that he wouldn't be able to do much as he really didn't want to hurt Kendea or Jesse, even if they couldn't be hurt. He came to stop and catch his breath right in front of the high school when he heard one more familiar voice.

"Can't you see what they're trying to say?" came another female voice. Xander looked up and saw Jenny Calendar.

"No! No you fucking don't!" he shouted as the late techno-pagan.

"Xander, you're struggling to be accept the truth: you screwed up. But it can be better. You just have to let go and leave from this world," Jenny said.

"What!" Xander said as he backed away.

"Look at what's happened since you were given this power. You've alienated your friends. They don't want you. Everything you do that you think is for their protection is hurting them. You're a burden. But you can end this all if you put an end to your suffering, so they don't have to suffer," she said to him.

Xander took off again not really knowing where else he could go. As he ran off, Buffy appeared around the corner from where Xander was, looking worried. "Xander?"


Dormer Residence

Jonathan and Amy sat with Faith, Diana, Tara, and Marie as they discussed the slayer's visit from the angel. They were all worried about the test that the council would try to deliver to Buffy, and later Faith. But even more troubling was what Ambriel said when the two young men left.

"So she hinted that the source of the slayer's power was something dangerous? But the stories always said that the power passes to the enxt chosen when the previous one dies," Amy stated.

"But she was hinting that someone, whom according to her, that wasn't a part of the Powers That Be made what we know as the vampire slayer. But she wouldn't say who," Diana jumped in. Faith looked down for a second before she spoke up, "It's because I told her to tell me at another time."

"You're not curious?" Tara asked.

Faith looked at her friend with a slight smile, seeing as the young witch had been coming out of her shell. "I'm more than curious. But they way she talked about it, it sounded like there's some bad stuff behind it. Now that I think about it, has anyone ever asked about where the power comes from?"

"No. At least not to anyone's knowledge," Diana spoke up.

"Do you think anyone in the council is willing to actually reveal this to anyone? From all the research we've done, very few slayers last past one year, with the brainwashing that she has to do it alone," Jonathan jumped in.

"Whatever it is, we can figure it out once the council comes for Buffy's cruciamentum," Diana replied.

Before anyone else could say anything, there was a loud banging on the front door. Everyone turned as the banging continued when Faith and Jonathan moved over to the door carefully. The brunette slayer took hold of the doorknob before she looked at Jonathan. He nodded and she yanked the door open ready to attack, only to find Xander standing there, scared out of his mind.

"Xander?" Jonathan and Faith said.

"I need help," he said. The two stepped aside and let him enter. He saw the others at the table and became more nervous. Diana quickly came up to him and led him to the kitchen. "Good lord, what happened to you?"

Xander looked at Diana and the rest before he decided to recount what happened. "I was at home, not doing anything. Next thing I know, I started seeing things."

"What kinds of things?" Amy spoke up.

"People we knew. People who died. Jesse. Kendra. Ms. Calendar," he replied. Jonathan and Amy stiffened up as they had heard the stories of what happened.

"You must've been freaked out seeing them again," Faith said as she moved over to Xander as laid an arm around his shoulders. The others took notice but chose not to say anything.

"I wish that was the only thing that scared me. When they started talking, they...they tried to get me to kill myself. They said that I screw things up for everyone. I only hurt them," Xander said as his voice grew small.

"Well they're wrong. You've been the guy who's had our backs. And we're going to have yours," Faith said as she looked Xander in the eye.

"It's settled. Tomorrow, we'll see Rupert and see if there's anything he knows about spirits coming back," Diana said.


The next day...

Sunnydale High Library

"I'm afraid I don't know much. Any incidents involving spirits have been from ghosts who couldn't move on after they passed on because of guilt, revenge, or other kinds of emotions," Giles said to the entire group. Buffy had warned him of Xander's strange behavior the previous night and the watcher grew worried.

"What about them telling him to off himself? These were good guys when they were alive. Now they're telling a friend to kill himself? Come on G, there's gotta be more to it than this," Faith spoke up, noticing Willow's slightly hardened expression but chose to ignore it.

"Well, what about the demon Ambriel told us about?" Buffy threw in. She may have been angry with Xander, but the last thing she ever wanted to have happen was for him to be seriously injured, or even die.

"But how could it? It's trapped in the deeper well beneath this town," Tara put in.

"What if this demon is stronger than we think? All we've dealt with were half-breed demons and demon possessed corpses. We haven't truly encountered any demon that works outside of their physical prowess," Jonathan said.

Giles' eyes widened as he replied, "Dear lord he's right."

"We should get to it then," Diana said.

The group went about looking through the books that they had available. They found references to demons who were willing to shape shift, but none about non-corporeal entities. They were ready to call it a night when Xander looked up and saw Ampata. "No! Not again!"

No could move in time to stop Xander before he ran away from the library. Everyone looked at each other until they noticed a new presence in the room. The girl was slightly short, had dark hair, and was beautiful. Jonathan and the scoobies recognized the girl as Buffy spoke her name. "Ampata?"

The young lady looked over to the blonde slayer with her smile still in place. "I hope I didn't startle my love. I just wanted to tell him how much I want to be with him. I've missed him so much."

"Who the hell are you!" Faith shouted at the girl. Ampata just looked at the brunette slayer. "Oh! So you must be the new girl that's looking to catch his heart."

Faith froze at the statement, as she didn't want to entertain the idea of everyone knowing her feelings, especially with the way Willow had glared daggers at her. "There's no need to hide your feelings. I'm sure everyone has noticed how look at him. How you wished that he would be yours while he was with the cheerleader. But you can't have him. I lost him before. He will be mine again."

"Whatever the hell you are, you won't win," Faith said as she stormed out of the library intent on finding Xander.

Buffy went to grab Ampata only to find her hand going through the girl. Ampata turned tot he blonde and her form suddenly changed into her late, former friend Billy Fordham. Buffy backed away as the creature spoke, "Whatever you think you can do, you won't stop me."

The creature shifted to the form of their former classmate, Theresa, whom Angelus killed and sired when he was free. "Funny thing is, I was originally going to mess your walking corpse of a boyfriend. But he's already got enough for his lack of foresight."

"What are you talking about?" Buffy shouted.

"You don't get it do you? You see, your boyfriend was cursed by the Gypsies so that if he experienced perfect happiness, he'd lose his soul. You and your idiot boyfriend never bothered researching the curse to see how it could be broken. You were so caught up on your whirlwind romance that you didn't think about the consequences. And judging by your face I'll let you in on a secret."

"And what's that?" Buffy asked as the others moved closer.

"It wasn't perfect happiness that kicked your boyfriend's soul out of his dead body. He simply forgot about the torment that all the good things he does inflicts on Angelus. And you helped him. If I had gotten to him, it would've been all too easy to make him dust himself. But then I realized, the sweetest victory wouldn't have come from getting rid of your boyfriend, especially since he lost his chance at whatever redemption he was promised."

"What!" Angel said from the stacks.

"That's right Captain Forehead! Not only did you stop being my target, but you are no longer the champion the Powers need since you lost your soul. You see, I realized something when Alexander stepped up in the world. He was chosen because he was someone who could make the decisions that you couldn't make. He will put his life on the line to help any of you, even if he gets killed. Something that you were ready to throw away when you found out you could get your boyfriend back."

"That's a lie! I was fighting save my friends!" Buffy spat back.

"You were fighting to save your boyfriend, who should've moved on to the afterlife! You were ready to throw away Willow's life, and she was ready to follow through like a sheep," Theresa smiled. "How does it feel knowing that in order to get your way, you'll sacrifice your friends?"

"Buffy would never sacrifice or endanger anyone else's life. Whoever you are, you are a great deceiver," Giles said as he went to give Buffy support.

"Is that right?" Theresa said before she morphed into Ms. Calendar. "So I wouldn't have died if you hadn't followed her lead to leave me on the outside? Because when Buffy kicked me out, feeling I was responsible for her conscious actions, I recall you agreeing with her. Remind me, you avoided me because I lied to you. And yet your dark past led me to almost being fully possessed by a demon you helped summon. How exactly is that fair?"

Giles clenched his jaw shut as he had no immediate defense against this entity's words. He could only stare at the creature before them. "Why are you doing this?"

Theresa chuckled when her voice turned deep and guttural. "You won't to know why you pathetic waste of an existence? I'll tell you. The very thing you fight against lives inside all of you humans. I thrive on it. You think you can stop me. But you won't."

Theresa suddenly disappeared in a flash of light when it was replaced by a phantasm of a giant, hulking demon with glowing red eyes, horns, and what appeared to be bony fingers with black, ashen skin. Everyone was taken aback by its appearance before it left.


Near the entrance of one of Sunnydale's cemeteries, Faith had finally caught up with Xander. She saw him as he sat on one of the stone benches in the middle of the tombstones. She slowly approached him before she placed a hand on his shoulder. The young man looked behind him to find Faith standing there with a small smile.

"How you holding up?" she asked as she sat next to him.

"What if the demon is right?" Xander said, resisting the urge to let tears fall from his eyes. "What I keep doing this thinking I'm trying not to hurt Buffy when it's all I am doing?"

"Stop. Don't think that. I've heard the stories about what happened before me and Diana got here. You've had her back since she first came here. So maybe you had a crush on her. But did you ever ask her to give you anything for saving her life?" Faith asked, even though she knew the answer.

"No."

Faith smiled at him as she put her arm around him. "You've been trying to protect her so she didn't die again. But now you can do more. She don't have to try so hard. Just give your best."

Xander visibly relaxed and let out a breath, as he finally felt some relief in the fact that he could go to someone, and that the person would not immediately condemn. "Thank you."

"That's what friends are for."


Author's note: So this is essentially part one of the appearance of a major villain. For anyone curious about why I changed the concepts about the hellmouth and the deeper well...well, I'll ask that registered authors and readers pm me for more information. There are a few gripes I have about certain things that I've found on the wiki, which is leading me believe that any theories posted on the trivia about certain concepts are just theories that have no real basis but are apparently believable. But I'll leave those alone. Slight spoiler warning, but this story will have a slight crossover with a movie that came out about six months ago. And there will be a sequel to this story to make the crossover more prevalent. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter.